Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service, known locally as Radio Ozodi, reported on October 17 that a court in Dushanbe has sentenced the leader of the opposition movement, Group 24, Suhrob Zafar, and his colleague Nasimjon Sharifov has been sentenced for “extremism” to 30 years and 20 years in prison, respectively. The sentences were handed down a week earlier, sources told RFE/RL on October 17.
Tajik authorities have labeled it "extremist," though Suhrob Zafar and other members reportedly deny any involvement in terrorism, insisting their cause is peaceful.
According to Radio Ozodi, during their final statements, both Zafar and Sharifov expressed no regret, with Zafar maintaining that he had neither harmed anyone nor betrayed his people.
Recall, human rights watchdogs reported on May 2, 2024 that Suhrob Zafar was forcibly disappeared on March 10 in Turkiye, and Nasimjon Sharifov was forcibly disappeared on February 23. Both had previously been detained by the Turkish police in March 2018 at the request of Tajik authorities and threatened with extradition, but were eventually released.
The founding leader of Group 24 Umarali Quvvatov once had close ties with President Emomali Rahmon’s relatives but became an opponent. He fled Tajikistan for Moscow in the summer of 2012. There he formed an organization called Group 24, which he claims is a new political movement opposed to incumbent President Rahmon. He was wanted by Dushanbe on fraud charges that he said were politically motivated.
Quvvatov stayed in Russia and the United Arab Emirates before moving to Turkey. On December 19, 2014, Umarali Quvvatov was arrested in Istanbul for visa violations, but he was released on February 3, 2015. Umarali Quvvatov was shot dead by unidentified assailant in Istanbul, Turkey on March 5, 2015.
Quvvatov’s cousin and business associate Sharofiddin Gadoyev was elected new leader of Group 24 on March 12, 2015.
After the split in Group 24, Gadoyev created a new movement in the Netherlands called “Reforms and Development in Tajikistan”, and Suhrob Zafar was elected to head Group 24
Tajikistan’s Supreme Court banned Group 24 on October 9, 2014 following growing government pressure on the opposition group after it used the Internet to call for street protests in the capital, Dushanbe, on October 10, 2014.
Supreme Court ruled that Group 24 is an extremist organization, and therefore, it is banned in Tajikistan. Its website and printed materials were also banned.
In February 2019, former members of the opposition movement Group 24, who returned to Tajikistan, asked the Tajik authorities to remove the organization from the extremist organizations list. They said the organization does not pose threat to Tajikistan’s security anymore.
Dozens of opposition figures, independent journalists, and rights activists have been handed lengthy prison terms on extremism and other charges in Tajikistan in recent years.
